“MONETARY AND FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR CROSS-BORDER PARTNERSHIP”

Oleg Preksin, a member of the Board of the FBA EAC, Vice President and member of the Council of the Association of Russian Banks coordinated the second panel session of the Forum, where the heads of multilateral and national development banks, authorized representatives of Russian and foreign commercial banks, and non-bank financial institutions took part in the discussion of topical issues of monetary and financial support for cross-border partnership. This made it possible to discuss from different sides the issues submitted for consideration about the role of these institutions in cross-border finance and investment and in promoting public-private partnership (PPP). The negative consequences for the Eurasian partnership of the COVID-19 pandemic and non-economic monetary and financial restrictions, prospects for improving payment and settlement services for international exchange and the development of financial centers in Eurasia, issues of digital financial assets and ESG banking have not been ignored.

Sergey Storchak, Senior Banker at VEB.RF, opened the discussion. The speaker told about the role of multilateral and national development banks in cross-border finance and investment, the promotion of public-private partnership, and touched upon the issues of monetary and financial interaction in conditions of economic and non-economic constraints. He spoke about the role of multilateral development banks. He highlighted such qualities of PDBs as the ability to "build" bridges between the government and the private sector, between national, including climate, and international agendas, between "global liquidity" (or the possibilities of global debt markets) and national projects financed with these markets, between short- and long-term priorities of global and national development. The speaker also spoke about the Memorandum approved in August 2021 by the Government of the Russian Federation "On the Financial Policy of the State Development Corporation VEB.RF", which assigns its role of a methodological center in the field of sustainable ("green") development.
Denis Ivanov, Chairman of the IBEC Management Board, continued the discussion. The speaker's speech focused on the practice and tools for supporting cross-border projects in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Mr. Ivanov said that in January-August 2021, an increase in the volume of exports of mutual trade was recorded in all the member states of the EEC compared to the same period in 2020. In his opinion, the foreign trade relations of the EAEU member states today are quite resistant to the current economic shocks and further development of mutual trade is necessary, including compensation for the negative effects of the pandemic on the national economies of the EAEU countries. In order to support the foreign economic activity of the bank's clients, IBEC continues to work on ensuring the continuity of global supply chains, "sustainable" trade finance, the implementation of cross-border projects and ensuring cross-border operations. The International Fund for Technological Development has been established on the basis of the IBEC as an international instrument to support industry. A project is developing to create its own blockchain platform. The Bank strives to link together the monetary and financial infrastructures of the Bank's member countries with other countries, including in the EAEU space, to be a universal partner for servicing foreign trade of SMEs. PRESENTATION

Georgy Potapov, Deputy Chairman of the Board of the International Investment Bank (IIB), spoke about the activities of the IIB within the framework of the discussed issue of the role of development banks. The speaker shared information about the bank's activities with the participants. In particular, he said that over the past year, the bank's credit and documentary portfolio has grown by 52%, the share of transactions involving the integration of IIB member countries is steadily growing, and gave examples of projects financed by banks. The Speaker noted that the IIB, like other development banks, has started work on evaluating funded projects in terms of the Sustainable Development Goals, defined by the United Nations in 2015.
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Sergey Dubinin, a member of the Board of Directors of VTB Capital, spoke about the new economic order that has developed after the crisis of 2007-2009, about digitalization in the field of international monetary and credit relations, about digital risks, information protection, and the formation of new client-oriented banking models (Financial Conglomerate Centers). As for Russia, there are 400 banks left in the country, of which 30 largest banks control most of the assets of the entire banking sector, each of which is the parent in relation to the banking group, which in a certain sense ensured the stability of the banking system during the crisis. Contradictions are accumulating. Certain benefits provided to bank customers lead to changes in bank portfolios, the risks of non-payment increase due to each stage of the economic downturn. The emergence of ecosystems based on the largest banks is a new progressive trend in the banking business. PRESENTATION

In the speech of Artem Arkhipov, First Vice President of UniCredit Bank JSC, the main emphasis was placed on the topic of digitalization of the banking sector, regulatory issues, ESG banking. The speaker noted that UniCredit Bank based the corporate governance system in the Bank on ethics and transparency. Thanks to the constant dialogue with stakeholders, the Bank holds a leading position in applying the best international practices in the field of corporate governance. The Bank has established an ESG committee. "Our commitments and goals related to environmental protection, social issues and corporate governance demonstrate that sustainable development is part of the DNA of our bank and is fully integrated into our business strategies," the speaker concluded.

John Mulligan, Director of the Climate Change and Market Relations Unit of the World Gold Council (Great Britain), elaborated on the problems of climate change. The report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which describes in great detail the state of our planet and the challenges facing humanity, "forces us to rethink all our business activities in order to avoid catastrophic consequences," the speaker said. The IPCC report describes that some destructive impacts on nature are now irreversible – and there is no turning back, but science says that rapid decarbonization and the transition to a zero-carbon economy can help mitigate the effects of climate change. The task of investors is to expand their risk management prospects, taking into account, first of all, climate risks, in order to better protect the value of their portfolios, as well as to redistribute capital to support the transition to a zero-carbon economy. How this happens in practice in the gold mining industry, the speaker told in his presentation. PRESENTATION

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